Veteran Actor, Rock Musician Decide To Get Their Act Together

October 9, 1988|By CARY DARLING, The Orange County Register

Harry Dean Stanton and Michael Been are odd mirror images of each other. The former is tall and gangly, while the latter is shorter and a bit wider around the belt. Stanton is an actor edging his way into music, while Been is a musician who`s making forays into acting.

Both, though, are united in the types of music they like -- folk and roots music from various parts of the world. They found their tastes were so similar that they`ve decided to launch a low-key, two-month tour.

Stanton, whose distinctively weather-beaten face has graced such films as Kelly`s Heroes, Pretty in Pink, Paris, Texas and Repo Man, met Been, singer- songwriter with The Call, on the set of Martin Scorcese`s The Last Temptation of Christ. Stanton plays St. Paul, while Been portrays St. John, and these two apostles got along as well offscreen as they did in front of the cameras.

``I remember Harry came to the shoot and he had this great guitar, a Martin,`` the Oklahoma-born Been recalled. ``We went up to his room and we sang three or four songs and it just immediately worked.``

After weeks of trading off on Spanish folk songs, Dylan standards and other tunes that could be pried from their collective memories, they thought of getting their act together and taking it on the road.

``Harry wants to do an album eventually, and we thought it would be a good idea to get that kind of experience. He didn`t have that kind of experience of playing every night, and there were a lot of things that you just can`t learn sitting in your house,`` Been explained.

With Call members Scott Musick (drums) and Jim Goodwin (keyboards) added to flesh out the sound, the pair performed trial dates in Santa Monica, Calif. The shows were successful, with Elvis Costello showing up to offer assistance on a few songs.

They`re performing many of the standards they tried before as well as such rarely heard songs as Robbie Robertson`s Ophelia and 805 by Moby Grape`s Jerry Miller. Surprisingly, Been maintains he didn`t have to teach Stanton all that much about the world of pop, although the actor has a few things to learn about being part of an ensemble, he said.

``This is the first time he`s played with a drummer and the first time he`s tried to fit in with a musical group,`` Been said. ``There are a lot of times, when you`re playing with a group of people, that you can`t be as loose with meter as you can on your own. It`s like those old rural blues guys would just change anytime they felt like it.``

Been`s assistance in helping Stanton adjust to music is only fair play because Stanton offered advice to Been on the set of The Last Temptation of Christ, Been`s first film. ``I remember him telling me: `Don`t act. Just be yourself,``` Been recalled. ``But all the people involved, Scorcese in particular, don`t like acting to be overdone. Scorcese casts people that he thinks are naturally sympathetic to the character.``

Scorcese didn`t even know if Been had acting ability when he approached the singer about the part four years ago. ``I`ve been a Scorcese fan since I was 18 years old. I saw all those movies, Mean Streets and stuff, and then, when we played New York, he came out and said he was a big fan of the group. He said if he was making music, this is what he`d try to say with it.

``It was amazingly flattering -- flooring as a matter of fact,`` Been said. ``He`d seen our videos on MTV and thought I had the presence he was looking for. Then we talked a lot about the story. I was familiar with the book -- I`d read it a couple of times.``

Though Been figured the film would cause a ruckus, he wasn`t prepared for how big the furor became.

``I got the feeling, though, it wasn`t really that big, it was mostly the media emphasizing it so much. It made good news,`` he said. ``There were a lot of absolute lies going on. And there was a lot of the type of thing where people were trying to exert control, these guardians of morality. I don`t like that. I`m much more a person who thinks it`s the individual person who should think for himself and not have some father figure tell him what`s good and what`s bad.``

His appearance in the film even caused a rift with some Call listeners. Because the quartet has always dealt in social issues and apocalyptic themes (their second LP was called Modern Romans), the group attracted its share of fans who were also heavily religious. ``I`ve gotten letters ranging from `How could you do this?` to `There`s blood on your head.` Then I get those which say: `I love your music. It has really meant a lot to my life. But I`ve had to burn all your records.``` Been laughed. ``You wonder what kind of impact you really made.``